TEA IN THE SAHARA

Well, really not bad. The guys sure know how to play, and how to arrange, but there's some lack of inspiration, as usual, so tracks are not so solid, nothing bad but they don't leave no trace, with the sole exception of "Sometimes In Winter", which is really very good. I think maybe repeated listenings could allow to get into music better, but I don't have all that time. The singer after some minutes turns out to be boring, vocal melodies are not so impressive, and I don't remember backing vocals so I think something better could have been done. All in all, a good record.

Second offer was issued two years later in 1996 named Boomerang. It's another good release, maybe in places little less intresting, but worthy neo prog, there is plenty of memorable sections here. I can say that Tea in the Sahara is unfairly unnoticed, because to me at least is sounding far more intresting then many neo prog acts from that period. The voice is more then ok, the instrumental parts are many times killer showing that the musicians really knowing to hadle the instruments. All pieces are good with a plus on opening Edging the Tongue and ending A Lamentation of a Scapegrace, both are lenghty pieces with a lot to offer, as neo prog must sounding. Again 3.5 stars maybe very close to a 4. Strong band that for some reason never made it in neo prog zone. Both albums worthing to be investigated.

3.5 really

A very worthy obscure german neo prog band from early to mid 90s with only two albums released and then gone into oblivion. The first release saw the light in 1994 named Behind the door and is a very good towards great neo prog. Complicated orchestrations, very nice musicicnship all over and I think is quite unde rated release in neo prog scene, this album is sounding much better then many albums with name. I can add that these germans are very skillfull delivering some quite intresting pieces like opening Hangman or Cosmorama, 6 pieces all lenghty and complex. There are a a well balanced between instrumental sections and the one with voice. All in all a damn fine release and fans of the genre must listen because worthy is, 3.5 stars almost a 4. For fans of more complicated neo prog like IQ, italians from Aufklarung or americans from Animator among others.

The debut album of this long time dissapeared German combo was one of the most pleasant musical discovery for me lately!A very intelligent cover with an DALI feeling,gives the flavor of some exciting musical discovery inside and we don't make any mistake!Great quality prog rock performed by some very capable musicians!Of course,a German accent for the vocalist,,,maybee too German ,but the music is so valuable and that makes the listener to not be so preoccupied by the vocalist!Long tracks and an excellent guitar player overall! COSMORAMA and CASUAL SILENCE are two representative tracks from the album,where all the musicians really explode!Great tones of keyboard interventions,sometimes sounding like a classical piano,wonderfully mixed, very accessible and generally a good album full of interesting moments, the guys proving on this album very innovative musical and componistic imagiation!The music is song orientated,but the long instrumental passages offer the image o the good potential of the band! MUSIC IS INTELLIGENCE was a label which had many excellent bands like GARDEN WALL,IVANHOE,ANYONE'S DAUGHTER,MARYSON,HORIZON'S END ,INES,TRIVIAL ACT among others and TEA IN THE SAHARA was one of the best!Unfortunatelly,like the and ,the label split a few years ago and the prog world was a little poorer.BEHIND THE DOOR is an album which worth to be in the collection of any prog lover,an album with many excellent moments of pure musical wizzardry and well defined musically,with beautiful ideas,passionatelly played by some talented young musicians!! 3 STARS for an ambitious debut!

Looking back 10 years in 1996 to an album I discovered just a view months ago, I need to write some words on this. I got this record from a friend who was a part of the "Prog Scene" in Germany some years ago. First of all I couldn´t believe that this was coming from Germany. These guys did really a good performance in terms of innovative musician ship and songwriting. Very good balance of instrumental and vocal phases. Very good drumming and good rythm section at all - listen to all these odd time signatures grooves without having the feeling of a real 9/8, 6/8, 5/4 or whatever beat. Good sounding production ( I think this is low budet selfmade ) and very good keyboard/piano and guitar work. The voice is not my favorite and sometime also a little bit flat. But overall this is a great modern prog album which can be seen at an eye to eye level with records out of the same decade of bands like Dreamtheater, Spocks Beard or Cairo. I think they band shows a lot of influences from "classic prog" like Yes and Genesis up to a mixture of Rock/Jazz Fusion. Especially tracks like "edging the tongue" and "Boomerang" are having a great intensity and very good lyrics. As far as I know this was the last album of the band - too bad !!! It would have been really interesting to find ou how their music would sound today - I would assume somewhere between Spocks Beard and Porcupine Tree.

Ritchie

Once you look past the singers voice, which is rather vapid, you will hopefully find ( I did at least) that this album offers some really good music and, above all, some of the best playing you will ever hear from any band. The music is quite accessible (maybe that's why it is listed in the neoprog category here) but at the same time diverse with complex song structures, long instrumental passages and sort of a jazzy touch. At times it sounds almost like a jam-session with the individual musicians really coming to the fore. Intelligent and rewarding (neo)prog that should not be missed.

What I like:

great Piano Work, overall nice keyboard playing by Oliver Kauffmann, great compositions and a very original and solid display of Neo,ART,Symph Prog Rock.

What I don´t like:

The singer´s voice is kind of plain, just average.

Overall I can say that Behind the Green Door is a solid and nice CD. You should give it a try!

Tea in the Sahara´s:"Behind the door" are a fair prog album(cd if you will).....problem is their singer...is...ahem.....sort of....nevermind voice. And by that i mean his voice has no apparent style/range.....or one might say..it is as if he doesnt care about the lyrics or the contents within! The music is actually quite fine...with Jorg Baumann on guitars... an he´s doing a fine job....the keyboards are done by (the same guy who´s singing..) Oliver kaufmann,who by the way also does the drumming...and in a nice way..too!! There are some brilliant moments musically that is!!! I Cant really compare them to any proggroup......maybe thats a blessing!?? on the other hand..it might be a blessing in disguise. As this is just another prog record in the mighty migthy prog ocean!! So there it is...nice cover (a la Dali) middle of the progroad sort of group! Still some great guitarplaying are to be found!! Occasionally there are some keyboards a la great!! All in all......ordinary prog. Track 5 are an OK track !! Ok?.....Thank you an goodbye!!